Kai is an eager TFA recruit |
10. I didn't get into law school yet.
9. I want to be sainted.
8. I believe if I believe hard enough that my students can learn, they will.
7. How difficult could teaching really be?
6. Because I'm blind to the long-term consequences of my actions.
5. My other temp job didn't offer health insurance.
4. I ran out of things to blog about.
3. After just two TFA years, I'm qualified to head up just about any school district
that education reformers can get their hands on.
2. It's the only way I could get TFA recruiters to stop calling and emailing me.
1. The kids I'm going to teach are already so screwed up, how much harm can
having an untrained teacher do?
Reality Alert:
Interested in how we came to write this? Go to The Three Biggest TFA Lies and Why Teach For America Is Not Welcome In My Classroom and A Glorified Temp Agency.
wow...
ReplyDeleteWhile you have to admire the idealism that many college graduates have including TFA, we must see closing the achievement gap as part of a larger multifaceted problem.
ReplyDeleteWould the public want to be operated on by a college grad majoring in psychology? Would you want your home electrically wired by an economics major? Would you want your will and trust prepared by a History major?
Then why would you want your child educated by a college student with 3 months training?
It seems that TFA and its backers have little respect for the teaching profession. If they really cared, then they would work to increase the academic rigor, selectivity and support for college education programs. This would include a 2 year transition period into full time teaching and a salary scale commensurate with the responsibilities and expectations.
I thought it was only five weeks of training! Don't think I will do it now if I have to waste 3 whole months before hand.
Deleteclearly Kai Merikal did not get into TFA
ReplyDelete